Including well over a half century of research and study by applicant in the fields of hydrocarbon chemistry and petroleum technology as well as studies of oil shales and shale oil as a likely successor of petroleum, as a raw material and source of the tremendous quantities of liquid distillate fuels required to meet the ever increasing demands for these products. Periodic studies were made of the trend in petroleum exploration, including deeper drilling and coastal shelf operation, (which extended the era and volume of production) on the one hand, and the economic requirements on the other, with of course the necessary innovation studies in the field from time to time to supplement the other factors. The crisis with respect to supplies of petroleum by the Mid East embargo, and its implications from the view point of our security and national policy, brought the subject to a head and crystallized the entire matter based on present as well as past thinking.